


At First Glance

by Vashti (tvashti)



Series: Mirror [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Babies, Casual Racism, Drunk Tony Stark, Female Character of Color, Gen, Hospitals, Kid Fic, Pre-Iron Man 1, Racism, Unplanned Pregnancy, What's Your Name Again?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-05-07 16:57:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14675442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tvashti/pseuds/Vashti
Summary: Tony finds himself searching the little tags—badly—even before the woman stops speaking.  His eyes land on it, in the back corner and rest there a long time before looking at the baby.  There isn’t much to see with her all swaddled up, only a wrinkly caramel face that reminds him mostly of the candies his mother used to keep in crystal bowls for guests.  Except then the kid would have been wrapped in gold cellophane…





	At First Glance

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Deepest Secret Nobody Knows](https://archiveofourown.org/works/465184) by [sciosophia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sciosophia/pseuds/sciosophia). 



> This takes place while Tony's at MIT, working on his who-knows-how-manieth degree.

**00 - At First Glance**

“Are you looking for anyone in particular?”

Tony turned to the friendly looking nurse standing on his right. He could have sworn he’d just seen her in the nursery, but he’d been losing swatches of time. It wouldn’t have surprised him, much, if he’d been having a moment of obliviousness as she’d been walking out the nursery door. 

Still he looked at her like she was a moron. Which didn’t seem to bother her. Smiling still, she said, “Are one of these precious bundles yours?”

“What…me? Definitely not.”

“Oh.”

“But my friend,” he said, rushing along. “I heard through the college grapevine that a friend of mine just had a kid. Thought I’d stop by while I was in town. Say hi.”

The nurse’s face softened even more. “That’s sweet of you. Most young men your age don’t think to visit their friend’s newborn when they’re in the hospital.”

“Oh, uh, yeah. That’s me. Sweet.” Tony was aware enough to know that he was drunk and a little stoned, though he probably didn’t smell it—he’d driven with the top down on the convertible. That this nurse couldn’t see it made him wonder about the quality of nurses in this hospital. 

“What’s the family name?”

Tony had to think about it. He was drunk and a little high and he wasn’t sure that he’d ever known Nina’s last name in the first place. “Um something Spanish. Um…”

“Garcia? That’s popular. Hernandez is another one we see a lot of.” When he failed to react, she kept going: “Lopez, Rodriguez, Reyes, Diaz, Velez, Torres—“

“That’s it. Torres. Her name is Torres.”

“Her… Oh…oh Miss Torres. She’s your friend?” And now he was getting the look. Now came the scrutiny.

Tony turned towards the babies, most of them sleeping in the dead of night, and tried to look past his own reflection. “Yeah, she was one of my friends from school. Didn’t even know she was pregnant.”

“Hmm. Well, I can point out the baby to you, though you can probably guess.”

He cut his eyes at the nurse. “I can?”

“As dark as she is—“

“It’s a girl?”

“Yes, though she isn’t named yet. Just Baby Torres.”

Tony finds himself searching the little tags—badly—even before the woman stops speaking. His eyes land on it, in the back corner and rest there a long time before looking at the baby. There isn’t much to see with her all swaddled up, only a wrinkly caramel face that reminds him mostly of the candies his mother used to keep in crystal bowls for guests. Except then the kid would have been wrapped in gold cellophane…

“She’s a pretty enough little girl,” the nurse says in a semi-conversational/semi-personal way—as if she were someone Tony knew rather than a worker he’d just met. “Her hair’s nearly straight, which is good.”

“Won’t last long.”

“Pardon?”

“What?” Tony had already lost the thread of the conversation. 

“You said something.”

“I did?” He’s not even messing with her; he’s lost another small chunk of time.

The nurse smiled kindly at him, and Tony found himself dropping even more points off the mental score he was giving this place. Crissy had chosen a real dive. She should have called him. He would…he would…he would…

“Do you want to hold her?”

Tony looked at the nurse. “What?”

“Hold her? Do you want to hold your friend’s baby? We’re not really supposed to do that, but it’s late and I’m pretty sure I could knock you down with a feather if I had to. I’m sure your friend won’t mind.”

“No…no that’s okay. And I’m pretty sure Crissy would mind very—“ But he’d had another lost moment because there was a baby in his arms while he’d been talking—a baby that was possibly furthest from the door—so he wasn’t even sure when he started making these protests.

She was solid in his arms. And warm through the swaddling, maybe even hot. “Should she be this warm?”

The nurse chuckled.

This close he could see the rosiness under her caramel skin. He could see the faint wisps of straight hair the nurse mentioned. He assumed she had four limbs with ten fingers and toes, but was too scared to be tempted to find out. Her head was heavy and she breathed funny through her mouth.

“Is that normal? How she’s breathing?”

The nurse came closer and gave her a visual once over. “She might be congested. I’ll clear that when I take her back.”

“You can. You can take her back. Before I damage her further.”

The nurse laughed, a lovely peal that was probably the most decent thing about her, but took the infant. “Not to worry, young man. This one’s a fighter. Her mother, too.”

“It was, uh, long? The delivery?”

“And difficult. First ones often are. But they’re both good strong girls.”

Tony grunted.

Looking anything but happy for the first time, she said, “They’re gonna have to be, to do this alone.”

Fin[ite]

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first story in a series that I started writing early 2014 and am still working on (seriously, I wrote a story this afternoon). The idea came somewhere between writing the Where You Lead series, watching IM3, and the plethora of Tony’s-got-a-heretofore-unknown-child (which I already sorta explored in the Where You Lead series). I'd already started writing when I read sciosophia’s story, and it gave me the glue to pull together my disparate stories in a way I hadn't realized I needed. I hope you [read her story](https://archiveofourown.org/works/465184/chapters/803179). It’s really good stuff.


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